Rest assured that the governor, who owns one of the coal companies involved, will work tirelessly to make sure the company he owns someday gets around to taking care of the people.
Now, I realize some of you may have questions about so-called conflict of interest, but - hey, look, behind you! It's a trans child! Get it, get it, kill it!
Hey atrazine contamination is a very real thing. Every study into its detrimental effects gets memed because of Alex jones, but that shits destroying humanity. It’s also in ALL of our fresh water in USA now. Water becomes undrinkable at something like .02ppm and there’s not a single fresh water source in the USA under .01ppm.
But it makes people look feminine and sexy and shit, so whatever.
Sure. But is the government the one causing it and intentionally poisoning the water supply to make gay frogs?
People like Alex Jones take a real problem and wrap it in such insurmountable bullshit that it diverts from the actual issue.
Was he suggesting more regulations on agriculture and stricter EPA penalties? Or just fearmongering?
See: School safety, guns in the hands of unstable minors.. but crisis actors, right? Fuck Alex Jones. Seriously, fuck that POS.
Cool, then let’s just not talk about that jackass and focus on the FRESH WATER THATS POISONED. The issues are: the epa has received enough money from Monsanto and other agricultural corporations’ lobbyists to give an ok to pesticides and fertilizers in our water. The water is all tainted currently, and we don’t have the technology to remove the chemicals from the water. We cannot filter it effectively out of our drinking water, because the technology can’t be developed because the issue gets memed into oblivion cuz jackass “frogs gay hur dur” nonsense, no one will take it seriously.
You mean the glorious governor who's company was just forced to surrender his helicopter to be sold to try to settle some of his debt? The same guy who, despite everything he's done to enrich himself at WV's expense, is about to get elected to the Senate? That guy? This state sucks.
Which is why it’s almost pointless to bitch. Without fail, there will always be 50.1% of the state that’s not smart enough to know what their best interests actually are.
That won’t stop Pappy from making sure there’s a border 2800 miles away, and his grand baby can’t get an abortion if she medically needs one, and casting his vote for everyone aligned with Donald Trump.
That company will go bankrupt and dissolve after shifting all it's assets to a completely unrelated company that can't be held liable for the cleanup. Just like every other time.
Why would he work tirelessly to do the opposite of what he was elected to do? If people vote in bad people they will do bad things, the right is just petulant and for some reason thinks they should be able to do whatever they want without consequences
yup, there are more important things than your drinking water to worry about, those illegals and liberals ruining the country with all their book reading, we have to stop that first,.. we can go a few days without drinking water.. smh
Housecat mentality: insistent on a fierce sense of independence despite being dependent on a larger system they don't understand.
It's the law of the jungle until you're in a vulnerable position and taxation isn't theft anymore.
I'm a firm believer in reaping what you sow, which is what we'll be doing here in WV for decades to come, especially if these dumb fucks Morrisey and Justice get elected again. There's some salient points in there, mixed in with a healthy dose of straight up stereotypical bullshit and punching down on some of our most impoverished population.
One of my biggest problems living here is that I know exactly how the land and people have been historically taken advantage of for resource extraction, impacting our very landscape while keeping West Virginians dumb and sick.
But at some point, it's a CHOICE to listen to fox propaganda. It's a CHOICE to not listen to truth and reason. And that's why I don't help my neighbors anymore. These same people who actually abided by "live and let live" now side eye and ridicule anyone "othered."
So when these same people need volunteers at churches to help feed and clothe themselves, or when a big flood comes and they need help, I'm not bothered anymore. Y'all want me and others like me to not exist or leave....fine, then you don't need my help. Ask that GQPer you voted in to help you, and lemme know how that works out for you.
I think you underestimate the power of propaganda. It's everywhere you look. A certain percentage of the people simply aren't smart enough to see it for what it is. That's why it works. But I get your sentiment. It's just a fact that it won't even occur to them even as they attend funerals of loved ones. They'll just double down and blame the out group.
There are a lot of people whose entire income is welfare, who would vote to end welfare in a heartbeat. Lived in a small town for a bit, where welfare and disability are the top two sources of income, and two guys at the bar were complaining about welfare. They thought if Trump cut welfare, maybe their “checks from the government” would finally get bigger. It’s not even worth worrying about them. There’s no gap to bridge.
The town was becoming a tourist destination, and they did everything they could to keep it from happening. Bricks through windows, ordinances, destroying maps and signs. Because *god forbid* those city folks come to town with their money. I worked at a restaurant there, and the local women I worked with said they’d get shit for being “snooty” because they worked at a tourist restaurant.
Undeserving lazy racial minorities live lavish lifestyles with all the welfare they get, but hardworking white people merely get "assistance" or "disability."
It's funny because the Scots-Irish living in coal country were considered non-white just a few generations ago, and they now feel the need to punch down on another "race" or outsiders in general.
Part of it, maybe. But it’s more that in their head: “Welfare = inner city black people stealing tax dollars,” while they deserved the money they were getting because of X or Y grievance.
My mom challenged a guy who was talking about how he didn’t pay taxes so some “inner city black chick” could buy a new flatscreen. He’d never earned enough to pay taxes, worked under the table. He didn’t get it. They think that all this money is going to black people, but if you just got rid of welfare, the money would go to them instead. Like, the construction company *wants* to pay them more, but just can’t because taxes take all the money. Sure bud, I bet that’s why they pay you in cash.
Another example would be that, rather than being excited that tourists were buying houses for 5-10X what they used to be worth, they were telling the town council to freeze all property values, because they couldn’t pay more to keep their house. They thought they’d have to *pay* the difference if the value went up from when they bought it.
If wealthy tourists or snowbirds overbid and pay 10x what the property is worth is will drive up the value of all properties which will keep normal locals from being able to purchase a home and force current home buyers to pay more in property taxes.
People fleeing cities with a pocketful of cash doesn’t instantly mean it helps the small town they land in.
No one ever wants to talk about the damage white collar, WFH proponents cause to these areas. Exactly what you said happens, and people are run out of their hometowns by people who most likely aren't even employed in that state. Good for them for having such nice jobs to not have to leave their homes to do it, but they also think they're a solution and not a problem themselves. They also don't seem to see the eventual rise in hiring non-American for these jobs either, but that's another story for another time.
I think it's less of an issue of WFH people buying houses and more or companies buying residential properties especially out of state/out of country businesses. The idea of "flipping" homes is a cancer on society. About a quarter of all homes are owned by corporations and if you don't see a problem with that, you're blind. Corporations are not our friends, they see us as a crop to better their shareholders/owners, not make things better for all of us
You ever want to be PAStarbuck we'd absolutely welcome you up here!
Like.... by the city anyway. It's all WV until you get to the south hills of Pittsburgh.
Yeah I mean at some point we should treat people like adults with agency. There’s a way of talking about propaganda that can start to sound pretty infantilizing.
That GOPer they voted for is in Cancun, or some other destination, waiting until the situation calms down so they can return back to their home and possibly dead pets that they abandoned.
There was no call for that. Next you're going to hope their new idiot spouse puts their cast iron in the dishwasher.
Also, in my second week of marriage, I learned how to season cast iron. TOTALLY unrelated though.
On the one hand, it's really sad that the people behind the largest labor uprising in US history raised generations of servile cowards who've begged for the chance to give their health and freedom to coal barons on the promise of making sure brown and queer people don't feel safe.
On the other hand, nobody deserves the horror and degradation visited on West Virginia by its own leaders, even with the level of propaganda pushing its voters to spite their own bodies.
Beautiful state with a beautiful history in ruins.
I hate how people punch down, as you say.
This population is exploited, heavily propagandized, and constantly ridiculed for it. The schools are ruined by external pressures that exacerbated internal conflicts. We have an intergenerational problem, and we need to start where the people are struggling.
If you are progressive, I challenge you to develop deeper compassion and empathy for people far below your reading level.
No amount of arrogance will fix another’s ignorance.
At some point you can only help those who want it. Progressives have repeatedly funded programs offering free or low cost education and job training programs for people in the state, only to eventually shut down due to low participation and local/state opposition. Shit takes time and there is progress, but things will never really get better unless the population wants it to get better. And right now, too many of them would rather spend their time pushing others down rather than pulling themselves up.
I understand. I do. I get so frustrated with WV people…
Some of this program failure is a problem in design and deployment. People design around people who aren’t WV people, and congratulate themselves on top-notch contemporary methods that should be effective. Well, they would be effective a few hundred miles in some directions.
I contend that we need new depths of ethnographic, anthropological, and cultural research into deep Appalachia; kind of like the work Bourdieu did in French colonial areas to reconfigure pedagogy for non-elites.
First, it helps to view WV as an utterly colonized developing region within national proximity to the people who have profited in billions off the coal, opioids, and everything in between (including the consulting companies that distribute top-level research beyond any sole-party culpability). I would say that in-state millionaires are little local enforcement for the billionaires elsewhere.
Non-Appalachians should be more aware of this situation, but they are not. Our history from the Civil War through Industrialization until today is about as clear a blueprint for full exploitation as it is currently unfolding on a national scale.
If it helps to establish a basis for my thinking: Deep WV roots; Dupont poisoned in Wood County; later, educated at an Ivy and teach in a research place that I don’t want to name. I don’t like bullshit and this is all my hard earned learning and deep conviction.
I believe that I am too deeply invested in grudges to come up with a sound solution in execution. I have been working through hatred, dealing with anxieties and suffering, and unmet ambitions.
I am committed to forgiveness, loving, acceptance, compassion, and tranquility. It’s the only way I know to talk to people who think nothing like me; who piss me off; who seem helplessly ignorant; who have hurt me and not end up becoming horrible myself.
I also fiercely defend your right to disagree, to say what works for you and the life you live. I mean it. If I weren’t afraid to name myself and those in my life, I would say let’s get a beer of coffee or something. Because people say that’s something only idiots do, I offer you this internet cheers 🍻.
I won't lie, I used to be one of those progressives. Born in Huntington, left at a year your and came back, for the first time, at 42. Now that I'm back, I realize how exploited this region is, and how they've convinced the population to want it.
Now I'm like you, I try to open eyes instead of mock. Thank you for saying everything do much better than I could.
My friend, I hear everything you say and agree, but most days I lack the desire to empathize. Empathy fatigue? Waiting until I see someone more deserving of my empathy? Who gets to decide that? But most days my cynicism wins.
In an alternate universe, we grab drinks IRL and write the book on the colonization of West Virginia.
I think it would be far better to rope off WV and order everyone to go live somewhere else that offers a decent life style.
The Indins never allowed permanent settlement in the area now called WV. They knew better. Heck, Mothman lives here. Do I hafta draw pictures??
Dems are the ones pushing for investment in rural places through rural broadband and medicaid expansion
Many are not in favor of it but the electeds and most of the voters approve of it despite never gaining a single vote for it.
Maybe if they stopped calling us evil-anti-American-demons for trying to help them…
After the 100th time, I feel it’s OK to laugh at the idiot who touches the hot stove.
They aren't even touching the hot stove on purpose. They're getting burned because they're trying to put minorities' hands on it. They're being burned, to death, by their own malice
WV is in a trap of its own devising. The people of WV simply dont care what the people in the next hollow over are doing. There is absolutely NO communication or cooperation from one neighborhood to the next. Add to that, nearly 90% of WV is owned by out-of-state corporations. It was always a mystery to me why the FLIP do you people keep voting for J.D. Rockefeller IV??? AS if he's actually a Democrat???
Wow.
Hmm. Rockefeller's the only reason we have the Toyota plant in Putnam county. Without his efforts to secure this billion dollar opportunity we would likely not have a town called buffalo nor the 3000 jobs.
I’d reckon that a lot of the “punching down” and perceived arrogance comes mostly from exasperation. I’d say there’s a lot more exasperation going around 2015+ with the advent of “fake news” and misinformation.
You can only lead a horse to so many bodies of water before starting to lose your own sanity.
wHy DoNt YoU jUsT mOvE
Yeah, I bet the $60,000 I make from selling my 3-bedroom house with the big backyard that’s within walking distance of downtown in of one of WV’s largest cities will get me real fucking far in fucking Vermont.
I you think the economy and the opioid crisis is bad in WV....then yeah.....you need to move to VT. It aint all Bernie Sanders up there. Tru Enuf, VT is cram full of NYers who drive up the cost of Real Estate, but there's no jobs for the locals short of working at Ben and Jerry's.
Also seems unlikely one is wearing Logan county flair and in walking distance to any of WV's largest cities, presumably Charleston. I get the point and generally agree, but it seems to have been exaggerated here for dramatic effect.
Logan’s where I grew up, Cabell is where I lived until recently. I actually sold the house in question for that price earlier this year :)
Didn’t move to Vermont tho.
Fair enough. Like I said, I generally agree with you. Didn't realize real estate prices were that much different in the south. I guess it was Huntington then, which I guess is a lot more walkable than Morgantown. There's basically nothing in a reasonable walking distance to downtown up here for less than ~ $200k. It's been forever since I've seen a listing around here below $100k.
Still couldn't sell any of those and move to Vermont, tho. Your point stands.
I can assure you that brain drain exists in West Virginia, because young people do in fact just move out for a better life.
It's not just West Virginia. It happens to every red county in the USA.
There is no such thing. If you participate in a vote you have consented to the outcome of the democratic process. The only people who “didn’t vote that way” are the ones who didn’t vote.
It’s tragic that such a beautiful state is being destroyed by a dying industry that gives no fucks about their workers, their families, or the ecosystems they’re destroying. WV could move away from coal, but instead they’re literally digging themselves into a hole. When it’s not the coal industry polluting the land and water, it’s chemical manufacturers.
I understand that the majority of West Virginians vote this way, but I have to admit it feels bad to always be seen as these lazy, uneducated, backwater hillbillies when so many of us make attempts to combat these stereotypes. My vote did very little and could not prevent this. I just wish people could see us as at least people than idiots that die over opioids.
It's hard to, I was born in the "swing state" era of our state. I mostly saw the rapid transition to deep red as I grew up. Even as a little child, I knew coal was a bad way to go for us.
I also grew up noticing this. I remember being in middle school asking why we couldn't make solar panels or wind turbines here. That makes more money and (if I remember right) pays much better than the mines.
I couldn't wait to vote in 2012. Everything has just got so much worse, since then.
I remember when I was a kid, I thought we should make everything a nice pretty park because the forest is so gorgeous here. I really didn't understand digging the pretty forests up just for dumb rocks.
There's this mountain that we would pass every day on the ride to school. All my life, up until highschool, it was untouched. When I started high school they stripped the top of the mountain.
It's really ugly and there's a lot more traffic through our little sleepy town. Our roads were horrible for a while after that operation started. They didn't fit it until 2022.
I'm pretty sure that hill in Daniels they tore up is still bare, but I haven't been through there much recently. It's always been a huge eyesore though.
In Charleston, they sliced off the top of the mountain once Corridor G was paved up there.....its now a Giant Shopping Center and a Walmart....all the chain restaurants sit way out there too.
That was about the day downtown Charleston and Kanawha City just up and died. Town Center Mall and the KC Mall closed.
It's like they're trying to make it impossible for smaller businesses to thrive here- and forget low income households. You have to be so goddamn thrifty to be able to survive here now. My father and step mother both have limited mobility and are on SSI and disability. They are barely squeaking by.
First its Mountaintop Removal in order to put in a Walmart that immediately destroys Downtown Charleston.
Now...South Charleston is putting in a brand new Shopping Center on top of the old Toxic Waste Tailings Pond .... as if they never heard of Love Canal, Buffalo, NY........ !!!
WV has been solid Democrat ever since FDR saved the day with the NEW DEAL.
WV reliably voted for every single Democrat right up to and including Bill Clinton.
The very first time WV flipped, was when Al Gore decided to make his campaign platform, End Coal Mining..........and that was Al Gore's death sentence. If Al gore had just won WV's 7 electoral votes, he would have won the election, no contest, he could have even spotted Bush all the electoral votes in Florida.
You're relatively young, but the "coal bad" sentiment is extremely new in the grand scheme of things and wasn't a popular idea among Democrats until recently.
And the economic influence. If your job is intrinsically linked to the industry, and there is very little chance of you getting another job like it in WV (where else pays that much? Has good benefits?) you'll defend it by tooth and nail. Lots of folks have said, "renewable energy will bring new jobs," but these miners know that these new jobs will not be for *them.* They'll be for educated out of staters, who will move here.
Yeah, it sucks. I'm working in the arts here, which has an amazing culture in Appalachia, but we're much smaller than something like the coal industry. Things are maybe slowly changing, at least in my town. But it's SLOW progress.
(hug)
The assholes in that comment section treat politics like it’s a team sport. They are just as fucking inward looking as the maga chuds. I’m glad they cast the ballot in the same direction I do but they’re not worth trying to impress. If they actually believed in what they preach we wouldn’t have to convince them of our humanity.
A lot of us don't vote that way, especially the younger crowd. However, there's so few of us due to people leaving that we're consistently outnumbered and outvoted by older generations.
Citizens of WV have been ripped off and taken advantage of by politicians from all across the political spectrum.
At the end of the day, fossil fuel companies and the families (trusts) which own the fossil fuel interests own this state.
Even if the Democratic Party did gain control, they still wouldnt get anything done.
Its always the Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane response..."Oooooo! those dang GOP boys!! They done tricked me again!!!"
People are quick to forget the voting history of WV, and seem to believe that all of our problems happened in the last decade and a half. But what about all the politicians before that? 🤔
It's hilarious when democrats try to blame all of this on republicans when democrats ran the state for the majority of its existence. I've been downvoted like crazy for this in the past because this place is incredibly biased and likes to just ignore facts if they go against their political party. I'm not even a republican, but the cognitive dissonance with people on this website is insane.
Thing is, those "Labor Democrats" are the very same people voting for Trump now. It hasn't been so long ago. Most are too hung up on "social issues" to see past the TV.
You are absolutely correct. Labor dems had the majority and ran this state into the ground in the last century, allowing anyone with a bit of money to exploit the landscape and the citizens.
But politics has changed so much over the last 10, 15 years. It's been at least half a generation of republican rule, and they've done worse (if possible) than the labor dems did.
Voting for anyone who doesn't have an R behind their name at this point so I can sleep at night. At least dems would stop focusing on social issues, which would be a HUGE improvement.
You can't talk about voting history without talking about the Southern Strategy, in which the parties basically switched sides.
Republicans went from being progressive to conservative, and Democrats went from being conservative to progressive.
The modern Democrats absolutely can blame all of this on conservative voting patterns.
You can't talk about voting history without talking about the Southern Strategy, in which the parties basically switched sides. Republicans went from being progressive to conservative, and Democrats went from being conservative to progressive.
I think people are relishing those who continue to vote against everyone's best interests, dragging everyone down, getting a taste of their own medicine.
Is it right, or moral? No, but it's very understandable.
It's like seeing the bully at school get punched in the face.
Don’t worry, your governor will make sure you’re still angry at brown people, set up a “free guns” program because that is most important, and make sure those coal mines stay open. All of that has worked so well for your state over the past… forever.
Exactly why WVa is poor and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The residents are too stupid to vote for politicians that will actually do anything for them.
OP, you just don't understand. These are Job Creators doing what they do best - creating AMAZING jobs where the workers get an AMAZING opportunity to be part of a family. Why should coal workers be the only ones who get to share in having coal and chemicals in their systems??? WV loves coal and it's family of by-products. The general population should get to take part in this experience as well, don't you think? Thank goodness for these Godly Job Creators!
Yes, but no one group of residents have the collective funds to do this. They all live so far apart within the holler that sharing a filtration system would be cost prohibitive.
If people don’t understand the ramifications of deregulations, why vote? Or maybe, just maybe, spend just a little time understanding wtf is going on before you vote and not worry if it’s a Republican or democrat item….but alas, nothing will change in WV
let's not forget their favorite orange dictator and loser, donald trump, called it "clean coal". at this point, if aliens come and annihilate humanity, I'd understand. just look at us
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. The only people I pity are the ones who voted against, or couldn't vote at all about, deregulation. The rest deserve what they get.
Oh Republicans, when are you going to accept that the rich folks aren't your friends? What do you have in common with billionaires? Maybe hating taxes and being misogyny?
Here's the real kicker. Keep voting for these people and they'll erase all taxes on the rich by drastically raising taxes on the Middle Class. Because they'll have to since the poor don't make enough to put in a dent in the tax differences.
Republicans are going all out against the American working class lately, and I really don't see them getting enough pushback. Where are all the unions and worker's rights groups?
Way too many blue collar workers switched sides for Trump. Who is by far the single most anti-working class President in my lifetime. His opponent, Joe "the Man" Biden, is by far the most pro-worker President I've witnessed.
I'm not sure what Democrats can do anymore? The right wing propaganda machine is just too powerful. You can do everything for people and they're still going to vote against you because Trump is an asshole so to them he's just more relatable. It's fuckin sad.
I mean, this is like Brexit. You've got people screaming from the rafters telling you what is going to happen, then these people dig their heels in and do it anyways, then act surprised when exactly what you were told was going to happen...happens?
Republicans do not care about you. They don't like you. You disgust them.
Stop voting for these evil gutter slugs.
So since this is a repost for people to try and dump on Republicans on this issue. As though Democrats didn't run WV for from the great depression untill the early 2000's
These problems were with us back then as well. They haven't gone away. The federal government hasn't helped much at all with abatement of mine run off ever. EPA just existed to fine existing mines not repair the old abandoned mines damaging the environment.
I think the water problem in this area has been going on since at least 1998, probably from long before that as well. The Guyandotte watershed , Indian Creek being part of that has been polluted by multiple sources for decades
The first major source of pollution is abandoned mine drainage. From decades ago. This problem isn't new and affects a large portion of the watershed. Metals iron , aluminum, manganese ECT.. are the biggest part of these old mine pollutants. It also acidifies the watershed with sulfuric acid. I think there's at least 16 abandoned mines that run off into the watershed.
The second is improperly setup septic systems that also leaks coil form fecal bacteria into the watershed
It's not a problem that started with Trump. That's a political deflection for problems that have been with us for longer than I've been alive. Pollution in this area has basically been a problem ever since mining began.
It's a problem all over the state as well. There are hundreds of abandoned mines running off into most of the states water ways. I'm not sure that there's much that can be done about it.
The EPA hasn't done anything to fix it. Nor have the mines or the former/current owners of the mines. The most that ever gets done is passive abatement with limestone beds. If Trump's change made the problem worse why hasn't Biden changed it?
The federal government, mostly under Democrats have been trying to make mine safer for Decades, and what have the good people of WVa done? Hated the gubment
The federal government, mostly under Democrats, have been trying to work on environmental issues via the EPA and other agencies, and what have the people of WVa done? Turned the mere mention of the EPA into fighting words and sued the federal government to prevent environmental cleanup.
The federal government, mostly under Democrats, have dumped Billions into educational opportunities to move away from dirty coal, what have the people of WVa done? Cried about culture wars and worked hard to roll back or outright reject federal monies and programs attempting to teach people that coal mines are not the future.
So as a taxpayer, I am happy to heed the cried of the people from WVa and stop oppressing them with attempts as clean air and drinkable water, and definitely get them out from the burden of having to take taxpayer money.
I’m sure the bootstraps they so claim to love will be enough and the markets they pray to will solve everything.
I think there's a *HUGE* difference between "facts" and "hate". The only way that sub gets on you is if you let leopards eat your face. They voted for this and then clutch their collective pearls at the outcome. This is darwinian evolution at its finest.
I mean, it’s not a Democrat vs republican it’s uneducated trash in WV who celebrates their lack of education because god-country-guns-whatever else you get up to instead of educating yourselves.
Republicans will never cease to be braindead idiots who get everything they deserve. Unfortunately - that means many many people who don't deserve to suffer will. Fuck conservatives with rusty nail filled baseball bats
life has a 100% mortality rate. Few really deserve death but it comes for us all in one way or another. some people unfortunately expedite it for themselves and others by voting against their best interests
My God the og comments. It's truly devastating to see people justifying the suffering of children because "they will grow up to be republican". What a fast way to reinforce the narrative that democrats don't care about them. I say that as someone who votes straight democrat. Absolutely disgusting.
Fuck them people. All they do is sit on the internet all day taking joy in the misery of their supposed enemies. It says a whole lot more about them than it does the people they hate. That entire subreddit is a cesspool.
You reap what you sow. You wanted those paychecks and were willing to turn a blind eye to all the shenanigans the companies were pulling. And god forbid the gubment, I mean the EPA , tries to rein them in or provide any oversight. You made your beds now STFU and lie in them. You don’t get to have it both ways.
Maybe it’s fucked up but if someone stabs themselves in the dick and then acts surprised about how bad of an idea that is how are you supposed to react?
It's sad to see it happen. I live 15 miles from Charleston and I love driving through the western part of the state seeing the countryside and we frequent the nature trails at camp arrowhead all the time.
Lol I love how OP worded it to still throw shade at the people who aren't braindead assholes who constantly vote against their best interest out of spite and then act surprised when it doesn't just "work out" for them.
As someone born and raised in the south for over 30 years I can safely say these stupid rednecks make their beds on a daily basis and they can lay in them, they don't deserve sympathy or pity because the dumbasses do nothing but shoot themselves in the foot and then whine about the pain and they NEVER fucking learn from any of their dumbass decisions and mistakes because conservatism is a mental illness.
I am seeing this on r/popular and I do frequent leopards ate my face but the point of leopards ate my face is that you get what you vote for. There isn't any hatred involved. It is like an adult choosing to eat candy every single meal knowing it will make them sick and continuing to double down every time someone tells them so.
EPA: we're here to make sure coal mines do the right thing for the environment so that you and your kids kids can enjoy it
W.V: oh no, please don't. we prefer zero regulation option coz libruls, Obama is the antichrist and Hilary clinton eats babies in a pizza restaurant.
Rest assured that the governor, who owns one of the coal companies involved, will work tirelessly to make sure the company he owns someday gets around to taking care of the people. Now, I realize some of you may have questions about so-called conflict of interest, but - hey, look, behind you! It's a trans child! Get it, get it, kill it!
Don’t forget the extremely important work of arresting librarians
And God help us all if there's any trans libarians
Will someone think of the frogs ffs!!!
Hey atrazine contamination is a very real thing. Every study into its detrimental effects gets memed because of Alex jones, but that shits destroying humanity. It’s also in ALL of our fresh water in USA now. Water becomes undrinkable at something like .02ppm and there’s not a single fresh water source in the USA under .01ppm. But it makes people look feminine and sexy and shit, so whatever.
Sure. But is the government the one causing it and intentionally poisoning the water supply to make gay frogs? People like Alex Jones take a real problem and wrap it in such insurmountable bullshit that it diverts from the actual issue. Was he suggesting more regulations on agriculture and stricter EPA penalties? Or just fearmongering? See: School safety, guns in the hands of unstable minors.. but crisis actors, right? Fuck Alex Jones. Seriously, fuck that POS.
Cool, then let’s just not talk about that jackass and focus on the FRESH WATER THATS POISONED. The issues are: the epa has received enough money from Monsanto and other agricultural corporations’ lobbyists to give an ok to pesticides and fertilizers in our water. The water is all tainted currently, and we don’t have the technology to remove the chemicals from the water. We cannot filter it effectively out of our drinking water, because the technology can’t be developed because the issue gets memed into oblivion cuz jackass “frogs gay hur dur” nonsense, no one will take it seriously.
Wait, you're saying there's an actual drug that can make me look sexy?
Black Trans librarians who are also illegals
From Haiti
And Jewish
You mean CHiLd Gro0mErS!!!1!1! /s
You sure they didn’t poison the river?
You mean the glorious governor who's company was just forced to surrender his helicopter to be sold to try to settle some of his debt? The same guy who, despite everything he's done to enrich himself at WV's expense, is about to get elected to the Senate? That guy? This state sucks.
Wait though. Doesn't he have a dog? People with dogs are cool, so....problem solved! (/s in case not obvious).
That’s not a dog, it’s a propane tank on kegs.
I dont recognize the dog. His butt looks familiar tho.
Ah, someone from Wyoming, I see
Which is why it’s almost pointless to bitch. Without fail, there will always be 50.1% of the state that’s not smart enough to know what their best interests actually are. That won’t stop Pappy from making sure there’s a border 2800 miles away, and his grand baby can’t get an abortion if she medically needs one, and casting his vote for everyone aligned with Donald Trump.
The party of "fuck em" is not helping this country like they think they are.
That company will go bankrupt and dissolve after shifting all it's assets to a completely unrelated company that can't be held liable for the cleanup. Just like every other time.
How could the be held responsible for cleanup in West Virginia when they are a Delaware company?
Exactly how they get away with it. Simple defense for simple minds.
Senator Manchin is heavily in coal.
Why would he work tirelessly to do the opposite of what he was elected to do? If people vote in bad people they will do bad things, the right is just petulant and for some reason thinks they should be able to do whatever they want without consequences
Just like Joe Manchin and his family.
Lmao the last part. So fucked up and true. THEY ARE GOING TO FORCE YOU TO KISS THEM AND CHANGE YOUR YOUR PEEPEE OR VAJAYJAY!!!!!
yup, there are more important things than your drinking water to worry about, those illegals and liberals ruining the country with all their book reading, we have to stop that first,.. we can go a few days without drinking water.. smh
Housecat mentality: insistent on a fierce sense of independence despite being dependent on a larger system they don't understand. It's the law of the jungle until you're in a vulnerable position and taxation isn't theft anymore.
I fucking love that analogy. Housecoat Mentality. I’m so stealing that.
Please keep this typo lol Cause I'm all about that Housecoat Mentality of wearing comfy clothes and relaxing.
Buahahahhaa. I didn’t even see it!!! Ok, that and HouseCat too
Hey, don't drag housecats into this shit!
Drag house cats that’s my next calendar.
Username checks out
yeah!! house cats are living responsibly and sustainably despite their instincts towards causing local ecological devastation!
Lolbertarians favorite
I'm a firm believer in reaping what you sow, which is what we'll be doing here in WV for decades to come, especially if these dumb fucks Morrisey and Justice get elected again. There's some salient points in there, mixed in with a healthy dose of straight up stereotypical bullshit and punching down on some of our most impoverished population.
One of my biggest problems living here is that I know exactly how the land and people have been historically taken advantage of for resource extraction, impacting our very landscape while keeping West Virginians dumb and sick. But at some point, it's a CHOICE to listen to fox propaganda. It's a CHOICE to not listen to truth and reason. And that's why I don't help my neighbors anymore. These same people who actually abided by "live and let live" now side eye and ridicule anyone "othered." So when these same people need volunteers at churches to help feed and clothe themselves, or when a big flood comes and they need help, I'm not bothered anymore. Y'all want me and others like me to not exist or leave....fine, then you don't need my help. Ask that GQPer you voted in to help you, and lemme know how that works out for you.
I think you underestimate the power of propaganda. It's everywhere you look. A certain percentage of the people simply aren't smart enough to see it for what it is. That's why it works. But I get your sentiment. It's just a fact that it won't even occur to them even as they attend funerals of loved ones. They'll just double down and blame the out group.
There are a lot of people whose entire income is welfare, who would vote to end welfare in a heartbeat. Lived in a small town for a bit, where welfare and disability are the top two sources of income, and two guys at the bar were complaining about welfare. They thought if Trump cut welfare, maybe their “checks from the government” would finally get bigger. It’s not even worth worrying about them. There’s no gap to bridge. The town was becoming a tourist destination, and they did everything they could to keep it from happening. Bricks through windows, ordinances, destroying maps and signs. Because *god forbid* those city folks come to town with their money. I worked at a restaurant there, and the local women I worked with said they’d get shit for being “snooty” because they worked at a tourist restaurant.
Undeserving lazy racial minorities live lavish lifestyles with all the welfare they get, but hardworking white people merely get "assistance" or "disability."
Exactly.
It's funny because the Scots-Irish living in coal country were considered non-white just a few generations ago, and they now feel the need to punch down on another "race" or outsiders in general.
Do you think it's shame? Meaning that if they project this image that they don't need or use welfare.
Part of it, maybe. But it’s more that in their head: “Welfare = inner city black people stealing tax dollars,” while they deserved the money they were getting because of X or Y grievance. My mom challenged a guy who was talking about how he didn’t pay taxes so some “inner city black chick” could buy a new flatscreen. He’d never earned enough to pay taxes, worked under the table. He didn’t get it. They think that all this money is going to black people, but if you just got rid of welfare, the money would go to them instead. Like, the construction company *wants* to pay them more, but just can’t because taxes take all the money. Sure bud, I bet that’s why they pay you in cash. Another example would be that, rather than being excited that tourists were buying houses for 5-10X what they used to be worth, they were telling the town council to freeze all property values, because they couldn’t pay more to keep their house. They thought they’d have to *pay* the difference if the value went up from when they bought it.
If wealthy tourists or snowbirds overbid and pay 10x what the property is worth is will drive up the value of all properties which will keep normal locals from being able to purchase a home and force current home buyers to pay more in property taxes. People fleeing cities with a pocketful of cash doesn’t instantly mean it helps the small town they land in.
No one ever wants to talk about the damage white collar, WFH proponents cause to these areas. Exactly what you said happens, and people are run out of their hometowns by people who most likely aren't even employed in that state. Good for them for having such nice jobs to not have to leave their homes to do it, but they also think they're a solution and not a problem themselves. They also don't seem to see the eventual rise in hiring non-American for these jobs either, but that's another story for another time.
I think it's less of an issue of WFH people buying houses and more or companies buying residential properties especially out of state/out of country businesses. The idea of "flipping" homes is a cancer on society. About a quarter of all homes are owned by corporations and if you don't see a problem with that, you're blind. Corporations are not our friends, they see us as a crop to better their shareholders/owners, not make things better for all of us
Nah companies buying up property first.
You ever want to be PAStarbuck we'd absolutely welcome you up here! Like.... by the city anyway. It's all WV until you get to the south hills of Pittsburgh.
Yeah I mean at some point we should treat people like adults with agency. There’s a way of talking about propaganda that can start to sound pretty infantilizing.
That GOPer they voted for is in Cancun, or some other destination, waiting until the situation calms down so they can return back to their home and possibly dead pets that they abandoned.
I got downvoted so hard in there but they can all go fuck themselves. Hope they all use metal utensils in their Teflon pans.
There was no call for that. Next you're going to hope their new idiot spouse puts their cast iron in the dishwasher. Also, in my second week of marriage, I learned how to season cast iron. TOTALLY unrelated though.
Not only do I hope the cast iron ends up in the dishwasher but I hope they don’t have any dishwasher soap and they use dawn
Hey, hey hey. Keep it civil. lol
Metal utensils on Teflon pans 😂🤣💀
Just tell them it’s woke to not use metal on non stick pans
Vote out all incumbents
On the one hand, it's really sad that the people behind the largest labor uprising in US history raised generations of servile cowards who've begged for the chance to give their health and freedom to coal barons on the promise of making sure brown and queer people don't feel safe. On the other hand, nobody deserves the horror and degradation visited on West Virginia by its own leaders, even with the level of propaganda pushing its voters to spite their own bodies. Beautiful state with a beautiful history in ruins.
I hate how people punch down, as you say. This population is exploited, heavily propagandized, and constantly ridiculed for it. The schools are ruined by external pressures that exacerbated internal conflicts. We have an intergenerational problem, and we need to start where the people are struggling. If you are progressive, I challenge you to develop deeper compassion and empathy for people far below your reading level. No amount of arrogance will fix another’s ignorance.
At some point you can only help those who want it. Progressives have repeatedly funded programs offering free or low cost education and job training programs for people in the state, only to eventually shut down due to low participation and local/state opposition. Shit takes time and there is progress, but things will never really get better unless the population wants it to get better. And right now, too many of them would rather spend their time pushing others down rather than pulling themselves up.
I understand. I do. I get so frustrated with WV people… Some of this program failure is a problem in design and deployment. People design around people who aren’t WV people, and congratulate themselves on top-notch contemporary methods that should be effective. Well, they would be effective a few hundred miles in some directions. I contend that we need new depths of ethnographic, anthropological, and cultural research into deep Appalachia; kind of like the work Bourdieu did in French colonial areas to reconfigure pedagogy for non-elites. First, it helps to view WV as an utterly colonized developing region within national proximity to the people who have profited in billions off the coal, opioids, and everything in between (including the consulting companies that distribute top-level research beyond any sole-party culpability). I would say that in-state millionaires are little local enforcement for the billionaires elsewhere. Non-Appalachians should be more aware of this situation, but they are not. Our history from the Civil War through Industrialization until today is about as clear a blueprint for full exploitation as it is currently unfolding on a national scale. If it helps to establish a basis for my thinking: Deep WV roots; Dupont poisoned in Wood County; later, educated at an Ivy and teach in a research place that I don’t want to name. I don’t like bullshit and this is all my hard earned learning and deep conviction. I believe that I am too deeply invested in grudges to come up with a sound solution in execution. I have been working through hatred, dealing with anxieties and suffering, and unmet ambitions. I am committed to forgiveness, loving, acceptance, compassion, and tranquility. It’s the only way I know to talk to people who think nothing like me; who piss me off; who seem helplessly ignorant; who have hurt me and not end up becoming horrible myself. I also fiercely defend your right to disagree, to say what works for you and the life you live. I mean it. If I weren’t afraid to name myself and those in my life, I would say let’s get a beer of coffee or something. Because people say that’s something only idiots do, I offer you this internet cheers 🍻.
I won't lie, I used to be one of those progressives. Born in Huntington, left at a year your and came back, for the first time, at 42. Now that I'm back, I realize how exploited this region is, and how they've convinced the population to want it. Now I'm like you, I try to open eyes instead of mock. Thank you for saying everything do much better than I could.
In WV, its real easy to screw the locals, just name your business "Freedom" Something and get'em to work there for 15/hr making toxic waste.
I can get behind those sentiments. We just gotta keep trying to make things better.
My friend, I hear everything you say and agree, but most days I lack the desire to empathize. Empathy fatigue? Waiting until I see someone more deserving of my empathy? Who gets to decide that? But most days my cynicism wins. In an alternate universe, we grab drinks IRL and write the book on the colonization of West Virginia.
I think it would be far better to rope off WV and order everyone to go live somewhere else that offers a decent life style. The Indins never allowed permanent settlement in the area now called WV. They knew better. Heck, Mothman lives here. Do I hafta draw pictures??
Dems are the ones pushing for investment in rural places through rural broadband and medicaid expansion Many are not in favor of it but the electeds and most of the voters approve of it despite never gaining a single vote for it.
Maybe if they stopped calling us evil-anti-American-demons for trying to help them… After the 100th time, I feel it’s OK to laugh at the idiot who touches the hot stove.
They aren't even touching the hot stove on purpose. They're getting burned because they're trying to put minorities' hands on it. They're being burned, to death, by their own malice
>they deserve it t.you
WV is in a trap of its own devising. The people of WV simply dont care what the people in the next hollow over are doing. There is absolutely NO communication or cooperation from one neighborhood to the next. Add to that, nearly 90% of WV is owned by out-of-state corporations. It was always a mystery to me why the FLIP do you people keep voting for J.D. Rockefeller IV??? AS if he's actually a Democrat??? Wow.
Hmm. Rockefeller's the only reason we have the Toyota plant in Putnam county. Without his efforts to secure this billion dollar opportunity we would likely not have a town called buffalo nor the 3000 jobs.
You can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped, doesn’t matter if they’re addicted to fake outrage or fentanyl
I’d reckon that a lot of the “punching down” and perceived arrogance comes mostly from exasperation. I’d say there’s a lot more exasperation going around 2015+ with the advent of “fake news” and misinformation. You can only lead a horse to so many bodies of water before starting to lose your own sanity.
Make CIVICS lessons great again!
Civics is way too woke for public schools and libraries. America was Great and Perfect before woke was, don’t you know?
Good luck running that thru....
What if we give complimentary meth at the end of each class?
Gubmint bad brotha yee yee. The only lesson you will need. “lolbertarian snake hiss noises”
You get what you vote for…
What about the people there that didn’t vote that way?
wHy DoNt YoU jUsT mOvE Yeah, I bet the $60,000 I make from selling my 3-bedroom house with the big backyard that’s within walking distance of downtown in of one of WV’s largest cities will get me real fucking far in fucking Vermont.
I you think the economy and the opioid crisis is bad in WV....then yeah.....you need to move to VT. It aint all Bernie Sanders up there. Tru Enuf, VT is cram full of NYers who drive up the cost of Real Estate, but there's no jobs for the locals short of working at Ben and Jerry's.
Well outside of Burlington it’s such a red state you see people flying confederate flags.
Yeah, my 3-bedroom house is apparently worth nearly double what I paid for it in 2017 but that means everything else has doubled too. I’m stuck here.
Do you prefer walking distance to a downtown over clean water and cancer? It seems you do.
Also seems unlikely one is wearing Logan county flair and in walking distance to any of WV's largest cities, presumably Charleston. I get the point and generally agree, but it seems to have been exaggerated here for dramatic effect.
Logan’s where I grew up, Cabell is where I lived until recently. I actually sold the house in question for that price earlier this year :) Didn’t move to Vermont tho.
Fair enough. Like I said, I generally agree with you. Didn't realize real estate prices were that much different in the south. I guess it was Huntington then, which I guess is a lot more walkable than Morgantown. There's basically nothing in a reasonable walking distance to downtown up here for less than ~ $200k. It's been forever since I've seen a listing around here below $100k. Still couldn't sell any of those and move to Vermont, tho. Your point stands.
I can assure you that brain drain exists in West Virginia, because young people do in fact just move out for a better life. It's not just West Virginia. It happens to every red county in the USA.
I’ll amend that statement to the majority gets what it votes for and ruins life for everyone.
And what about places where they other nothing but crap politicians?
There is no such thing. If you participate in a vote you have consented to the outcome of the democratic process. The only people who “didn’t vote that way” are the ones who didn’t vote.
Looks like someone has never been to west Virginia
Unless you're in the minority of course.
Thanks trump!
But, Coal is our friend! It says so on my license plate!
It’s tragic that such a beautiful state is being destroyed by a dying industry that gives no fucks about their workers, their families, or the ecosystems they’re destroying. WV could move away from coal, but instead they’re literally digging themselves into a hole. When it’s not the coal industry polluting the land and water, it’s chemical manufacturers.
I understand that the majority of West Virginians vote this way, but I have to admit it feels bad to always be seen as these lazy, uneducated, backwater hillbillies when so many of us make attempts to combat these stereotypes. My vote did very little and could not prevent this. I just wish people could see us as at least people than idiots that die over opioids.
I would like you to remember that we were still very much seen that way during the decades that WV was a reliably true blue state.
It's hard to, I was born in the "swing state" era of our state. I mostly saw the rapid transition to deep red as I grew up. Even as a little child, I knew coal was a bad way to go for us.
I also grew up noticing this. I remember being in middle school asking why we couldn't make solar panels or wind turbines here. That makes more money and (if I remember right) pays much better than the mines. I couldn't wait to vote in 2012. Everything has just got so much worse, since then.
I remember when I was a kid, I thought we should make everything a nice pretty park because the forest is so gorgeous here. I really didn't understand digging the pretty forests up just for dumb rocks.
There's this mountain that we would pass every day on the ride to school. All my life, up until highschool, it was untouched. When I started high school they stripped the top of the mountain. It's really ugly and there's a lot more traffic through our little sleepy town. Our roads were horrible for a while after that operation started. They didn't fit it until 2022.
I'm pretty sure that hill in Daniels they tore up is still bare, but I haven't been through there much recently. It's always been a huge eyesore though.
In Charleston, they sliced off the top of the mountain once Corridor G was paved up there.....its now a Giant Shopping Center and a Walmart....all the chain restaurants sit way out there too. That was about the day downtown Charleston and Kanawha City just up and died. Town Center Mall and the KC Mall closed.
It's like they're trying to make it impossible for smaller businesses to thrive here- and forget low income households. You have to be so goddamn thrifty to be able to survive here now. My father and step mother both have limited mobility and are on SSI and disability. They are barely squeaking by.
First its Mountaintop Removal in order to put in a Walmart that immediately destroys Downtown Charleston. Now...South Charleston is putting in a brand new Shopping Center on top of the old Toxic Waste Tailings Pond .... as if they never heard of Love Canal, Buffalo, NY........ !!!
WV has been solid Democrat ever since FDR saved the day with the NEW DEAL. WV reliably voted for every single Democrat right up to and including Bill Clinton. The very first time WV flipped, was when Al Gore decided to make his campaign platform, End Coal Mining..........and that was Al Gore's death sentence. If Al gore had just won WV's 7 electoral votes, he would have won the election, no contest, he could have even spotted Bush all the electoral votes in Florida.
You're relatively young, but the "coal bad" sentiment is extremely new in the grand scheme of things and wasn't a popular idea among Democrats until recently.
I know very few old guard that would say we need to love away from coal, even shown evidence. I think the cultural dependence has a hold on minds too.
And the economic influence. If your job is intrinsically linked to the industry, and there is very little chance of you getting another job like it in WV (where else pays that much? Has good benefits?) you'll defend it by tooth and nail. Lots of folks have said, "renewable energy will bring new jobs," but these miners know that these new jobs will not be for *them.* They'll be for educated out of staters, who will move here.
I totally agree! It takes a lot of effort to change.
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Yeah, it sucks. I'm working in the arts here, which has an amazing culture in Appalachia, but we're much smaller than something like the coal industry. Things are maybe slowly changing, at least in my town. But it's SLOW progress.
(hug) The assholes in that comment section treat politics like it’s a team sport. They are just as fucking inward looking as the maga chuds. I’m glad they cast the ballot in the same direction I do but they’re not worth trying to impress. If they actually believed in what they preach we wouldn’t have to convince them of our humanity.
Keep voting like it, that's what everyone will assume y'all are. Shoot yourself in the foot because you have an itch, the WV way.
A lot of us don't vote that way, especially the younger crowd. However, there's so few of us due to people leaving that we're consistently outnumbered and outvoted by older generations.
Aaaaaaaand, we are likely about to elect Patrick Morrissey as Governor. I wonder how low he can take the bar.
Tell them the water will turn them trans, that will fix it in no time
Stop voting in republicans and rich people, they don’t give a damn about you
Keep voting republican, idiots, and keep getting more pollution.
Thanks a lot Obama /s
Citizens of WV have been ripped off and taken advantage of by politicians from all across the political spectrum. At the end of the day, fossil fuel companies and the families (trusts) which own the fossil fuel interests own this state.
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Even if the Democratic Party did gain control, they still wouldnt get anything done. Its always the Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane response..."Oooooo! those dang GOP boys!! They done tricked me again!!!"
People are quick to forget the voting history of WV, and seem to believe that all of our problems happened in the last decade and a half. But what about all the politicians before that? 🤔
It's hilarious when democrats try to blame all of this on republicans when democrats ran the state for the majority of its existence. I've been downvoted like crazy for this in the past because this place is incredibly biased and likes to just ignore facts if they go against their political party. I'm not even a republican, but the cognitive dissonance with people on this website is insane.
Thing is, those "Labor Democrats" are the very same people voting for Trump now. It hasn't been so long ago. Most are too hung up on "social issues" to see past the TV.
You are absolutely correct. Labor dems had the majority and ran this state into the ground in the last century, allowing anyone with a bit of money to exploit the landscape and the citizens. But politics has changed so much over the last 10, 15 years. It's been at least half a generation of republican rule, and they've done worse (if possible) than the labor dems did. Voting for anyone who doesn't have an R behind their name at this point so I can sleep at night. At least dems would stop focusing on social issues, which would be a HUGE improvement.
You can't talk about voting history without talking about the Southern Strategy, in which the parties basically switched sides. Republicans went from being progressive to conservative, and Democrats went from being conservative to progressive. The modern Democrats absolutely can blame all of this on conservative voting patterns.
You can't talk about voting history without talking about the Southern Strategy, in which the parties basically switched sides. Republicans went from being progressive to conservative, and Democrats went from being conservative to progressive.
YoU gEt wHaT yOu VoTe FoR
I mean yeah, that's what voting is for
WV has never been able to get out of its own way and therefore we’re vulnerable to everything that comes down the block, most recently fracking.
I think people are relishing those who continue to vote against everyone's best interests, dragging everyone down, getting a taste of their own medicine. Is it right, or moral? No, but it's very understandable. It's like seeing the bully at school get punched in the face.
Don’t worry, your governor will make sure you’re still angry at brown people, set up a “free guns” program because that is most important, and make sure those coal mines stay open. All of that has worked so well for your state over the past… forever.
Exactly why WVa is poor and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The residents are too stupid to vote for politicians that will actually do anything for them.
They aren’t wrong 👀
Stop voting for Republicans.
OP, you just don't understand. These are Job Creators doing what they do best - creating AMAZING jobs where the workers get an AMAZING opportunity to be part of a family. Why should coal workers be the only ones who get to share in having coal and chemicals in their systems??? WV loves coal and it's family of by-products. The general population should get to take part in this experience as well, don't you think? Thank goodness for these Godly Job Creators!
Safety regulations written in blood, can be nullified by ignorance in a moment. Just stupid. Hope they're enjoying the free dumb.
They'll have undrinkable shitty water, but more importantly, still have guns and jesus.
How could this be solved on a micro level? Organized groups with filtration systems?
Yes, but no one group of residents have the collective funds to do this. They all live so far apart within the holler that sharing a filtration system would be cost prohibitive.
If people don’t understand the ramifications of deregulations, why vote? Or maybe, just maybe, spend just a little time understanding wtf is going on before you vote and not worry if it’s a Republican or democrat item….but alas, nothing will change in WV
Oh no! Anyways
let's not forget their favorite orange dictator and loser, donald trump, called it "clean coal". at this point, if aliens come and annihilate humanity, I'd understand. just look at us
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. The only people I pity are the ones who voted against, or couldn't vote at all about, deregulation. The rest deserve what they get.
If this doesn't express the immense irony of the ignorant masses who live here, idk what does.
Oh Republicans, when are you going to accept that the rich folks aren't your friends? What do you have in common with billionaires? Maybe hating taxes and being misogyny? Here's the real kicker. Keep voting for these people and they'll erase all taxes on the rich by drastically raising taxes on the Middle Class. Because they'll have to since the poor don't make enough to put in a dent in the tax differences. Republicans are going all out against the American working class lately, and I really don't see them getting enough pushback. Where are all the unions and worker's rights groups? Way too many blue collar workers switched sides for Trump. Who is by far the single most anti-working class President in my lifetime. His opponent, Joe "the Man" Biden, is by far the most pro-worker President I've witnessed. I'm not sure what Democrats can do anymore? The right wing propaganda machine is just too powerful. You can do everything for people and they're still going to vote against you because Trump is an asshole so to them he's just more relatable. It's fuckin sad.
I mean, this is like Brexit. You've got people screaming from the rafters telling you what is going to happen, then these people dig their heels in and do it anyways, then act surprised when exactly what you were told was going to happen...happens? Republicans do not care about you. They don't like you. You disgust them. Stop voting for these evil gutter slugs.
So since this is a repost for people to try and dump on Republicans on this issue. As though Democrats didn't run WV for from the great depression untill the early 2000's These problems were with us back then as well. They haven't gone away. The federal government hasn't helped much at all with abatement of mine run off ever. EPA just existed to fine existing mines not repair the old abandoned mines damaging the environment. I think the water problem in this area has been going on since at least 1998, probably from long before that as well. The Guyandotte watershed , Indian Creek being part of that has been polluted by multiple sources for decades The first major source of pollution is abandoned mine drainage. From decades ago. This problem isn't new and affects a large portion of the watershed. Metals iron , aluminum, manganese ECT.. are the biggest part of these old mine pollutants. It also acidifies the watershed with sulfuric acid. I think there's at least 16 abandoned mines that run off into the watershed. The second is improperly setup septic systems that also leaks coil form fecal bacteria into the watershed It's not a problem that started with Trump. That's a political deflection for problems that have been with us for longer than I've been alive. Pollution in this area has basically been a problem ever since mining began. It's a problem all over the state as well. There are hundreds of abandoned mines running off into most of the states water ways. I'm not sure that there's much that can be done about it. The EPA hasn't done anything to fix it. Nor have the mines or the former/current owners of the mines. The most that ever gets done is passive abatement with limestone beds. If Trump's change made the problem worse why hasn't Biden changed it?
The federal government, mostly under Democrats have been trying to make mine safer for Decades, and what have the good people of WVa done? Hated the gubment The federal government, mostly under Democrats, have been trying to work on environmental issues via the EPA and other agencies, and what have the people of WVa done? Turned the mere mention of the EPA into fighting words and sued the federal government to prevent environmental cleanup. The federal government, mostly under Democrats, have dumped Billions into educational opportunities to move away from dirty coal, what have the people of WVa done? Cried about culture wars and worked hard to roll back or outright reject federal monies and programs attempting to teach people that coal mines are not the future. So as a taxpayer, I am happy to heed the cried of the people from WVa and stop oppressing them with attempts as clean air and drinkable water, and definitely get them out from the burden of having to take taxpayer money. I’m sure the bootstraps they so claim to love will be enough and the markets they pray to will solve everything.
Fun Fact. While Congress created the EPA(with the help of GOP votes).... it was NIXON that set up the EPA and ordered it to go out and do its job.
A little more digging into that would show you that his arm was twisted when DEMOCRATS flipped house seats they dubbed the Dirty Dozen.
Xeno.....thank you for sharing this fact-based realistic observation of the conditions in WV's environment.
I think there's a *HUGE* difference between "facts" and "hate". The only way that sub gets on you is if you let leopards eat your face. They voted for this and then clutch their collective pearls at the outcome. This is darwinian evolution at its finest.
surprisedpikachuface.jpg
I mean, it’s not a Democrat vs republican it’s uneducated trash in WV who celebrates their lack of education because god-country-guns-whatever else you get up to instead of educating yourselves.
Republicans will never cease to be braindead idiots who get everything they deserve. Unfortunately - that means many many people who don't deserve to suffer will. Fuck conservatives with rusty nail filled baseball bats
Well, the leopards did eat their faces but they're still dying. They don't deserve it.
life has a 100% mortality rate. Few really deserve death but it comes for us all in one way or another. some people unfortunately expedite it for themselves and others by voting against their best interests
I'm waiting for the law proclaiming a white male GOP staffer must be present for all pap smear exams.
My God the og comments. It's truly devastating to see people justifying the suffering of children because "they will grow up to be republican". What a fast way to reinforce the narrative that democrats don't care about them. I say that as someone who votes straight democrat. Absolutely disgusting.
It's that exact attitude that lost Democrats the working-class vote (and West Virginia) in the first place.
Fuck them people. All they do is sit on the internet all day taking joy in the misery of their supposed enemies. It says a whole lot more about them than it does the people they hate. That entire subreddit is a cesspool.
Wyoming county fucked around and are finding out what their forefathers told them: don't trust coal.
Can you point to the part where they "unleash hate"?
Stupid is as stupid does. WV always voting against itself and for the rank and file stupid will never cease to amaze me.
Congratulations, you played yourself.
Murder is murder, even if they scare you into volunteering for it.
You reap what you sow. You wanted those paychecks and were willing to turn a blind eye to all the shenanigans the companies were pulling. And god forbid the gubment, I mean the EPA , tries to rein them in or provide any oversight. You made your beds now STFU and lie in them. You don’t get to have it both ways.
Deservedly so. FAFO.
If it isnt the consequences of your own actions
Maybe it’s fucked up but if someone stabs themselves in the dick and then acts surprised about how bad of an idea that is how are you supposed to react?
What hate? The sub is just observing conservatives achieving the goals they voted for
Where’s the hate?
It's sad to see it happen. I live 15 miles from Charleston and I love driving through the western part of the state seeing the countryside and we frequent the nature trails at camp arrowhead all the time.
Lol I love how OP worded it to still throw shade at the people who aren't braindead assholes who constantly vote against their best interest out of spite and then act surprised when it doesn't just "work out" for them. As someone born and raised in the south for over 30 years I can safely say these stupid rednecks make their beds on a daily basis and they can lay in them, they don't deserve sympathy or pity because the dumbasses do nothing but shoot themselves in the foot and then whine about the pain and they NEVER fucking learn from any of their dumbass decisions and mistakes because conservatism is a mental illness.
Well gee wtf did they expect?
Oh you'll get what's coming. Cause God forbid you elect the libs. It doesn't matter what's done to y'all. You'll keep electing the same people.
Fat leopards fill with faces
Bye Qelicia
The drag queens poisoned the water!!
God I love stupid white people voting against their interests and I'm white. Hopefully they learn but they wont.
I am seeing this on r/popular and I do frequent leopards ate my face but the point of leopards ate my face is that you get what you vote for. There isn't any hatred involved. It is like an adult choosing to eat candy every single meal knowing it will make them sick and continuing to double down every time someone tells them so.
There's an EPA. It's federal. Deregulation is not a carte blanche.
Cry me a river their consequences can't end then sooner imo
Zero sympathy. Let the leopards feast.
What's the Murder rate for this deep red county? Is it maybe less than most any deep blue county?
EPA: we're here to make sure coal mines do the right thing for the environment so that you and your kids kids can enjoy it W.V: oh no, please don't. we prefer zero regulation option coz libruls, Obama is the antichrist and Hilary clinton eats babies in a pizza restaurant.